Aaron, Adam and Jesus

Exodus 32 is in many ways one of the lowest points of the Old Testament. Merely days after Israel has been wonderfully rescued from slavery in Egypt they break commandments, forget Moses, and fall down to worship an idol. Whether they thought the Golden Calf was YHWH, or whether it was to replace Him i'm not sure, but it's still awful. As i was reading it this morning, i spotted something that i'm not sure i've ever seen before, so this post comes with an **original though warning** but i thought it was an interesting road to Jesus from right at the end of the chapter.

Exodus 32:35 says 'the LORD sent a plague on Israel, because they made a calf, the one that Aaron made.' When we first read that it doesn't make much sense, it seems like poor English. Who made the calf, Aaron or the people. We read at the start of the chapter that at the people's request Aaron made the calf from all the gold that Israel had plundered from Egypt...So why are the people going to suffer for what Aaron had done? Surely Aaron should be struck with sword and then plague, not the people themselves? Aaron should have known better, why should the people suffer.

Are they suffering under their, albeit temporary, federal head? Jesus is the Moses we wait for at the end of the Pentateuch, just as Moses is the only one who can represent Israel before Pharaoh and YHWH, so Jesus is the only one who can represent His people in front of the Father. But right here, Aaron has responsibility for these people. Just as Adam was our head, just as Jesus is our head, so for this short time, Aaron is the head. Aaron the brother of Moses, Aaron the Levite. he should be a safe pair of hands.

The head sins, and the people are punished. Moses, the real head intercedes for them, and they are rescued. Jesus is punished so that we will not be. So who is our head to be? Jesus, who lead His people away from sin into freedom, or one, who leads His people into sin away from freedom? Aaron is not an Adamic figure throughout Exodus, he is the father of the priesthood in many ways, but right here he sins and leads his people astray, into judgement.

So who is our head to be, the freedom bringing sin killer, or the judgement bringing sin committer, here Aaron, always Adam...

A twofold display of grace

Romans is great isn't it? I've had a heart warming, challenging few weeks as i've read through it to close out 2008. I love that it takes Paul eight chapters to get anywhere near what people might call 'application' and even then four chapters more, and the beginning of chapter 12 before he starts to answer the 'yeh but what does this mean for me?' question. Brilliant. 

I love Romans 10:20-21:

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

    "I have been found by those who did not seek me;

    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me."

 But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

Here is a twofold display of grace that Paul spends chapter 11 unpacking. Jesus has been found by those who did not seek Him. Jesus has revealed Himself to a people that were not looking. Salvation has come to the gentiles! Aren't you glad about that? Listen up ethnic factions in the Roman church, the Gospel has come to the Gentiles. And not just to the ones that were looking, Paul quotes Isaiah saying that He's come to a people who did not seek or ask for Him. This is of course true on a micro level as well. None of us were seeking or asking for Him when he saved us...He saved us because He saved us, but here Paul draws it out to it's glorious multi ethnic Gospel level... Salvation has come to the Gentiles!

How has this happened? The gentiles have been grafted in. The wild olive branches have been attached to the natural tree, the original branches cut off. Should this make gentiles proud? By no means it should have us in awe, if God cut off the original branches, will He not also cut off any non abiding unnatural branches? Of course! How is this grace twofold though? How does God 'all day long hold out His hands to a disobedient and contrary people?'

Well in Isaiah's context He sent to prophets, the His Son, and now He has grafted the gentiles in to make the Jews jealous (11:11). Just as there was a remnant in Elijah's day, so there is today. All Israel will be saved. The faithful remnant will be bought in, the Jews with all their natural, historical, covenant advantages will be saved. A partial hardening on Israel, then the fullness of the Gentiles, then all Israel (11:26)

So then. Stand in awe (11:20) Be amazed that branches were cut off that you might, that we might, be grafted in. Don't be arrogant about it, but humbled. Be amazed at God's twofold, complete, grace, He doesn't forget His people, but neither does He forget all who He has made.

Paul is probably addressing a factioning in the Roman church, which is why he goes onto write about fulfilling the law though love.(13:8-14) But there is much for us to be humbled about here as gentiles, and much for us to be excited about as 'all Israel will be saved' will only mean good things for us (11:12). 

Romans, concepts and categories

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished

Romans 3:25

One of the many things i love about reading the Bible slowly, and in order is that is shapes our categories and creates our concepts. If you asked many, perhaps even most, evangelicals, why Jesus died on the cross, the answers would probably range from 'because He loved me' to 'so i can have a personal relationship with Him' to 'so i can go to Heaven.' Hopefully some would say 'so that i can worship Him'. 

Now all those answers are true enough, and glorious, especially the last one, which is far closer to the grand, ultimate, Biblical answer than the other three. Few people, myself normally included would say that the reason Jesus died on the cross was to answer the greatest problem in the Old Testament. Few would say to demonstrate His righteousness first and foremost.

The biggest problem in the Old Testament is 'how can God be good, and just, and yet simply put away the sins of His people. Sure there was the exile, but what about after that? Is civil war and a kingdom split enough to punish the adultery of David?' I mean, most people would say it in a better fashion than that, but you know what i mean. God the Father sent His Son to die to demonstrate the righteousness of God. This is why Jesus was laying down His life to show the world that He loved His Father, not us. Not primarily.

This gives such tremendous freedom in Christian counselling and discipleship. It means that when a student comes to me and says 'i am a terrible person,' i can say, lovingly and Biblically, 'yes you are a terrible person. And so am i. Welcome to the Gospel.' Christians need this Gospel! There is little to no freedom in the 'i'm so lovely Christ just couldn't help but die for me Gospel.' It doesn't work, it is not true. 

The Bible is so radically, dangerously, consistently, persistently God centered that it ends up reshaping our categories, it ends up creating our concepts of what happened at Calvary. Can you imagine the impact if Christians read it, and took it seriously, and acted upon it?

Andrew Parsons: Romans 8

One of the (many) highlights of NWA was seeing Andrew Parsons deliver Romans 8 from memory:

Packer on Penal Substitution

The following are quotes from an article written by Jim Packer in this quarter's NB:news, the magazine for uccf staff and supporters

'...as i get older i want to tell everyone who will listen: 'i am so glad for the penal substitutionary death of Jesus, no hope without it'

...it was with His own will and His own love mirroring the Father's therefore that He took the place of human sinners exposed to divine judgement and laid down His life as a sacrifice for them, entering fully into the state and experience of death that was due to them. The He rose to death to reign by the Fathers appointment in the Kingdom of God. From His throne He sent the Spirit to enduce faith in Himself, and in the saving work He has done...

Since this was all planned by the holy Three in their eternal solidarity of mutual love, and since the Father's central purpose in it was and it the glorify and exalt the Son as Head and savior of a new humanity. smartypant's notions like 'divine child abuse' as a comment on the cross, are supremely silly, and as irrelevant and wrong as they possibly could be...

What is stated above is clearly revealed in God's own witness to Himself in the Bible and so must be given the status of non-negotiable fact...

Penal substitution therefore, will not be focused properly until it is recognised that God's redemptive love must not be conceived, misconcieved rather, as somehow replacing God's retributive justice, as if the Creator-Judge simply decided to let bygones be bygones. The measure of God's holy love for us is that 'while we were still sinners Christ died for us', and that 'He...did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all' (Romans 5:8; 8:32)

Jesus is better

One of sin's greatest weapons against believers is how good it looks, how good it feels, how good it tastes. No one would choose anything that look or feel or taste good, whether in the soul or in the body. The reason this is such a big weapon against us is that we were made to feel pleasure. Made to feel happy, made to feel good, made to be delighted. We were made to find our purpose and our meaning and our pleasure outside of ourselves.

And this can take such a wide range of expressions. From the obvious like sexual immorality, to the less obvious like the clothes we wear or the compliments we fish for, to the individual things that cause us to stumble, like what we do in our spare time, what we watch on tv or see at the cinema. And that's different for everyone in the details, but the basic facts are the same for everyone. It looks good, so we do it.

So the battle we need to fight against sin is the battle to prefer something else. Something better. To teach ourselves and believe that there is something better out there. And praise the Lord there is. His name is Jesus. The greatest and most ultimate relaity there is. People, pretty much from the day He started to minister wanted to put Jesus in a box. But it was for Him and through Him that the world was made. How do you out Him into a box? How do you sanitise Jesus? You can't. But anyway, back to the point of this, how do we choose Jesus over sin? How do we convince ourselves and remember that Jesus is better and that sin is awful?

The answer from Proverbs 5 seems to be look at the long game. Proverbs 5 was the last talk that Mo gave at Relay 3, and this is all from his handout (except anything thats wrong, which is me) It looks good, but it isn't seems to be the message from verses 1-6. It looks like fun, it might feel like fun at the time, but it's bitter in the end. Sin always leads towards death, it calls us and tempts us to do what we want without pondering the path of life, without paying any regard to the Lord. Sin makes us all gods in our own little worlds. Here the father is pleading with his son not to chase after the forbidden woman, She looks good, but she'll kill you. And God pleads with us, choose life, choose my Son...choose Jesus.

In verses 7-14 the father tells the son to not eveb nearly do it. Don't even go near her door. Don't bring shame and dishonour on yourself by going to her door. Stay well away. How often after we have consciously sinned do we think to ourselves ro tell God that 'i only meant to go so far'...don't even go that far. How east it is to waste our labours on sin. It's a thin tightrope over the fires of hell. And how close we come to that tightrope, how often i dance on that toghtrope every day. How blase to get about sin...our consciences's get cut off, our fire for the Gospel gets dulled, our neccesary burden for the lost eased, but not in a good way. Sin is stupid. Stupid to let all that we've learnt of God, and all that we know of God and waste it. Adultery, whether spiritual or physical is cruel and merciless. Sin is a harsh master. Come to Jesus whose yoke is easy, and burden light.

The father finishes by exorting the son to enjoy the wife that God has given him. Enjoy what God has given you. If it's singleness, enjoy being single and don't waste it, use your singleness to glorify God. If it's marriage, then be married to the glory of God. Be satisfied in God, be satisfied in what God has given you. Don't be chronically ungreatful, drink deeply from your own well, because what Jesus has given you is enough. How do we do this though? When that rush of adrenaline goes through your blood and you visit that website, buy too much, say too much, don't say enough, when you try and elevate yourself abouve your peers, when you fail to trust in God for everything? What do you do then?

Fear the Lord. Thats the way to life. His paths are best.
Guard your heart. Don't entertain sin in your heart, go to the cross, tell yourself that God has given you enough to drink. Isn't God a gracious God in doing that?
Trust God. God is trustworthy. There is none like Him. He is good, and He is soveriegn. His promises are staggering. His commitment to His own glory is the best news in the world. Ask Him and trust Him to satisfy your heart for His name's sake.

This is pure Christian hedonism. Choose whats better. Follow Jesus' commands. Don't listen to the world. That way is death. Jesus is life. Glorify God with your body, with your soul and with your life, because that is the way to life, and peace and satisfaction. Prepare yourself for an eternity enjoying Jesus in Heaven. Get ready for that, and shine brightly in the world.

Paperclip Champion

[this is my script for a five minute mini preach i'm doing at church on sunday. you can listen to it here]

Endings are important aren't they? We saw that on Tuesday evening as eight million people watched the last episode of 'Life on Mars' to find out whether Sam was a time traveller on in a coma. At the same time in spain Chelsea scored a last minute goal to take them through to the champions league semi final, making the end of the game, more important than anything that had happened before. So how does Paul choose to end this great letter? What impression does he want to leave on the minds of the people who have been reading this letter in first century Rome?

The rest of Romans 16 has been taken up with personal greetings, but the start of verse 25 changes the focus as Paul starts to address someone else. 'Now to Him who is able to establish you by my Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ', he writes.

What can God do? God can establish us by the Gospel. If we want to be established in God and by God, we must be established by the Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. These are God's means for making sure we persevere. What chance do we have on our own to stand firm against the tide of apathy and disbelief around us? Very little. So we must rely on God's way of doing it, which is described in verse 25 as the Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. We, then, have a responsibility to make sure we are established in the Gospel. To get to know what the Bible says about Jesus. We must have our feet fixed firmly on this solid ground because everything else around us is sand. There is nothing more important for our life than what the Word of God says about the Son of God for the Glory of God. We must get to know it. The Gospel is not just a saving Gospel, it's a living Gospel. An establishing Gospel.

Why does God want us to be established? Why did God the Father send His Son to us in the first place? So that, as it says in verse 26, we might believe and obey Him. This links back to what Paul was saying in verse 25. If we are to believe and obey Him, we must be established in Him. If this was the reason that Jesus came then it's something we need to pay attention to. We need to believe and obey God by being established in the gospel

This is how we participate in verse 27. To only wise God, be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Jesus is our mediator before God, so it is necessary and appropriate for our worship to be directed through Him and to Him. That is how God will be glorified.

One of my favourite things about this passage is that it can be applied so easily. If the reason that Jesus came is to establish people by the Gospel so that all nations might believe and obey Him, then our mission as a church and as individuals is to be established ourselves, and to establish others. To believe and be obedient and to help others believe and be obedient. This is why as a church we are running Alpha again in two weeks and are putting on a healing meeting as part of the Front Edge weekend in four weeks…so that people might hear and become established in the Gospel. So that they might be saved.

Jesus came ultimately so that we might give glory to God through Him. So lets do that, lets be involved in the healing meeting and Alpha, be inviting people and praying for them so that they might be established in the Gospel to the glory of the only wise God though Jesus Christ.

sunday

If you're not trsuting in the life, death and ressurection of Jesus to deal with what happens when you die, all you're doing is trusting your best guess. Your best guess won't be as good as Jesus. It also won't be real. God has graciously and wonderfully made Himself clear in many many ways. Here are three of my favourites, as mentioned by Don Carson.

Nature.

Psalm 19:1 says the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above his handiwork. I love hot sunny days because in those days it's so clear to see the glory of God. It's so clear to see that there is something else, something deeper behind everything we see around us. Look at the sun, look at the colour of the sky, feel the heaton your face. Thats all to point you towards God. Thats to make your soul cry out 'glory' with joy and fear. It's to make us stand in awe at the Creator. And it's not just sunny days! Look at the clouds, all the chemical reactions needed to keep them going...all sustain by the word of the Lord. And it doesn't even tire Him out! Nature is all around us, God could not have made Himself clearer in it. So stop repressing this knowledge (Romans 1:21) , and come to Him. Delight in the Lord and praise Him for making Himself so clearly known.

The Law.

Why must people be ceremonially cleased all the way through Leviticus? Why is there a whole chapter about cleansing people with Leprousy? Why did God give Israel the law in the first place? Because 'I am the Lord'. we are to be holy, because He is holy. Israel was to make sacrifices to God on a regular basis. Why? He is the Lord. Inter familial sexual relations are banned. Why? Because He is the Lord. This side of the cross, and the law has been fulfilled in Jesus, we no longer need to observe it. The law shows us what God is like. It shows us how gracious, Holy, just and perfect God is. Is shows us God is relational. The law tells us as much as we could know about God's charecter pre incarnation. Now that might not have been one of the key reasons for the giving of the law, but it was a pretty effective side effect. How did Israel know how to behave? Look to the law. How do we know God is a consistent and eternal God? Because of the law.

Jesus

To see Jesus is to see the Father (John 14:9). If we had lived 2000 miles away 2000 years ago, we could have looked into the face of God Himself, eaten with Him and touched Him. Now we live by faith, and not by sight, and the Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of who God is. How do we know God is compassionate? Look at Jesus. How do we know He is loving? Look at Jesus. How do we know that God is just and hates sin? Look at Jesus. All our worship must be directed to Jesus and through Jesus. Through our one Mediator. Through the one who is not an option alongside Buddha or Mohammed, as some people i spoke to this week would have you believe, but through the Risen owner of the universe, who suffered, bled and died that we could worship Him. God is ultimately revealed through Jesus Christ, who lives and rules today.

so has God made Himself clear? Yes, abundantly and graciously. All we need to do is open our eyes, and have our eyes opened.

Matt Benton on Romans 1:1-5

Four key things we notice about the Gospel:

The Gospel is from God and not man
It's unique, it's pan-cultural. we need to be good ambassadors

The Gospel is all about Jesus, not me.
Christianity is not a philosophy or a system. It's about a relationship with a man.

The Gospel is of grace, not morality
We can't get right on our own.

The Gospel must be explained, not just modelled
Jesus used words, actual words to proclaim the Gospel. If they were good enough for Him, they are good enough for us.

Luca's reprise

Here are some reasons i like expository preaching.

Respect for the Word.
No one should be reading the Bible randomly, just picking it up and reading whatever page falls open. So no one should be encouraged to do that. Going through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter and verse by verse from the front in church encourages me to read the Bible like that.

Respect for God.
God gave us the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. He gave it to us as a book which talks about His redemption plan in time and space. If it was better for us to have the Bible in topics thats what He would have done. He'd have given us a book about sex, a book about giving, a book about evangelism, a book about the Holy Spirit and whatever else. But He didn't. Going through books one step at a time and you'll get to those things, but in God's place and at God's pace. Doing it this way also forces us to look at things we'd never choose to.

It feeds God's people.
God's word doesn't return to Him void. Our words probably mostly will. So we need to let God do the speaking, and just explain what He says. People are starving for God's words to speak to them, to feed and nourish them. The best way for it to do that is to be taught in context and in the story. I don'tneed life skills training, i need my heart to be blown away by the might and the glory of God in Jesus Christ!

It's just plain easier.
If you're going through a book a chapter at a time he knows where he's going, and so do we. The week isn't spent wondering what next sundy will look like. Next sunday will look like Romans 12 or Ezra 1 or whatever it is. The preacher knows where he's going and so do we. It's got to be easier to prepare a sermon from one bit of the Bible than to be jumping from verse to verse trying to draw out a point. There's meaning in the text, in every part of the Bible, so tell people what it is! It also means that people listening know where we're going next.

UCCF:thespecialforces

In my post Relay 2 glow, here are some reasons i really like UCCF:thechristianunions.

Commitment to the Gospel.
The first thing we heard 'from the front' was 'the Gospel is still true, Grace is still real'. It was like coming up from under a swimming pool and having fresh air hit the back of your lungs once more. Funny how you don't realise you've been ill until your better again. I have concluded that most/all my problems come from the fact that sometimes i just don't believe these two truths. And whats more it was the Gospel that we focussed on all week. It would have been easy to spend an hour on the first night reminding ourselves of it, and then spend the rest of the week learning how to be Relay workers. But we didn't. And here's the thing, if we don't love the Gospel, if we don't love Jesus then you can give us all the 1-2-1 tips in the world, and it won't make any difference. But show us Jesus clothed in His Gospel, and you're showing us life.

Commitment to the Bible.
I love the Bible, and i try to love all of it equally, but there are some books that just seem more helpful than others, no matter how untrue that is. And whcih book did we study this week? Zephaniah. You'd have to go a long way to get further off the beaten track than that. Two and half terrifying chapters on God's fierce judgement and half a chapter on His grace to His remnant. It was brilliant. And so easily missed. There's more to the Bible than Romans, there's more to the Old Testament than Genesis and the Psalms, it was great to remember that this week. There was a Bible open in every talk. This just seems like common sense to me but i know that it is getting rarer. But i'd rather have someone sit and expose the Bible to me, and help me to apply it well than pretty much anything else. I was at the Biblical Evangelism Conference two months ago, a whole weekend dedicated to handling the Bible better. Invaluable.

Commitment to Worldwide Mission
Wednesday evening was spent praying for IFES movements around the world, praying for the top 50 countries in the Open Doors persecution list, praying for China and praying for last years Relays who are away on Homestart at the moment. IFES is the third largest worldwide organisation after FIFA and the UN. I think thats pretty cool. This term about 50 missions will take place in the UK and Ireland, and in one week in February (12th-16th) there will be 13 missions on the go at once. It's great to be caught up in something so big, so eternal.

Commitment to students and Relays
Things like the BEC and the whole Relay programme illustrate this. Student led mission teams resourced and supported by Relays, staff and training conferences. Giving students the chance to handle and teach the Bible.

Commitment to Universities
'Change universities and you will change the world' said a wise sounding man. Universities will always be where the next generation of leaders will come from, so lets get amongst them. Lets change people's lives and eternities at university, so they can do it in the work place. Universities are increasingly closed to outside intervention, espeically that of a religious bent, so it's great to able to equip the students who have the right to be on campus where others don't.

Commitment to Church
I can honestly say that if it wasn't for Bish i wouldn't love the church as much as i do. Christ is building His church, the church is the bride of Christ, the church is what will be presented to Christ spotless at the end of time. CUs are there to gather people in the local church. They couldn't do what they do without the support of the local and sending churches. CUs are not churches, neither should they be treated as such. Go to CU sure, but get yourself involved in a good Bible teaching church, thats so important.

Doing mission when death is gain: Introduction

I want to take some time to write about Operation Auca, about what doing mission when death is gain looks like. About what it really means to believe and live in Psalm 63:3. To hold the Kingdom, and the glory of the King more dearly than your own life. At the moment in my mind it looks like this. A brief introduction, an overview of what happened, a look at some of the protagonists and then a look at the aftermath. I'm sure that there will be repitition within the posts themselves, and that i will probably miss out some very important areas of the mission.

Introduction

Operation Auca was an attempt by five American missionaries to take the Gospel to the Huaorani people of Ecudor. In the true spirit of the confidence found in Matthew 24:14, they were to go to another people group, another tongue, another tribe, and preach the Gospel secure in their calling, and in the victory of the risen Christ.

The Huaorani themselves numbered about 600 hundred, split into three mutually antagonistic groups, who lived in a river basin in eastern Ecuador. At the time of operation Auca they were recognised, infamously, as one of the most savage peoples in the world. They were known for fiercly defending their land against outsiders, any of whom they viewed as canibalistic attackers. Even before the missionaries got there, they were known for having killed rubber plant workers in the 1900s and shell oil workers in the 1940s. They were clearly a group of people in desperate need of the Gospel. In addition to this, the tribe was also known for violence against itself, with one family group regulaly attacking anothers homestead before fleeing, although this practice seemed to have died down slightly by 1955 and the arrival of the missionaries. Despite that they appear to be a people, and this appears to be a mission that was so dangerous, there is little need for hyperbole or exaggeration.

So what was it that made these five take on such a task? They were young, some of them newly married, some of them fathers...why did they go and do something that, on the face of it seems reckless and irresponsible. It seems that for Jim Elliot at least, the Urbana student missionary conferences that he attended left a serious mark, and we'll look more at the individual motivation when we look at the men themselves. But what did they see in the Bible that so many appear not to see today?

I've already alluded to two of my favourite verses in the Bible, Matthew 24:14 and Psalm 63:3. Aside from the precious, soul refeshing promises in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 3:18, these are the verses i cling to. Isn't Matthew 24:14 fabulous? It seems to me the choice we are left with here is 'be doing evangelism, or be wasting your life'. There can be no cop out here. No 'waiting and seeing'. As sure as the end will come the Gospel will be proclaimed to all nations. All people groups. Every ethnicity. And when will the end come? When will we see the Son of God return in white hot glory? When the Gospel has been preached all over the world. Jesus has done the work for these people, so lets go and get them. May the Lamb recieve the glory due His name.
And Psalm 63:3 sums it up. The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life, so we will praise God. What do you lose if you lose your life? What do you gain if you lose your life?

I don't know whether these verses had any impact on Operation Auca at all. I would imagine that what i see in the call of the Great Commission is a fraction, a shadow of what these guys saw. But what i do know is they saw Christ, and His suffering, and His victory, and His worth. And they went.

The all sufficiency of Christ (1)

Creation.

Christ's penal substitutionary death on the cross achieved many, many, many great things. Everything good we see in the world in fact. Every lovely sunset, every good moment with our friends, every answered prayer, every spiritual blessing...it all comes from the cross. Jesus' work was all satusfying, all encompassing, and all sufficient.

Romans 8:22-23 talks about how creation is waiting eagerly for Christ's return, for the final completion of His work that He has started, for the end of the victory that He has won. Just like we do. Creation groans like we groan. Creation waits like we wait. Creation suffers as we suffer. God created Eden perfectly. It was a place so perfect, so paradisical that we can't really get our heads around it. It was better than anything we can really comprehend. It was perfect. Just like our vocabulary won't let us talk about Christ in the terms He deserves, so it won't let us talk about the perfection of God's creation as we should. But it was great, and created to be great.

So why is that how it is today? With earthquakes and tidal waves and electrical storms and whirlwinds. No. Thats not what God created the world for, not how it was meant to be. So God's lost control right? He gambled and the cards fell against Him...thats right isn't it? No. The disintegration of Eden starts more or less as soon as Adam and Eve disobey God and ate the apple. They were sentanced to toil on the Earth for their work, something they never had to do before the Fall (toil, not work). Nature and man were suddenly turned against eachother. Adams and Eve needed clothing after the Fall...so presumably animals were killed to provide them. Sin + nature = disaster. And this is where we are. Jesus promises that there will be earthquakes but that this will not the the end, just the beginning of the birth pains.

Birth pains is something that takes us back to Romans 8:22-23. We're told that creation groans as if in the pains of childbirth...as we wait for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. So as our bodies will be redeemed, and we'll get new ones...so creation will be redeemed and there will be a new Heaven and new Earth.

How do our bodies get redeemed? By our faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. By His death and ressurection. So i guess thats how creation gets redeemed, by the work of the cross. How wonderful the cross was. How right is D.A Carson when he describes it as 'the brightest and darkest of nights'. How sufficient is Christ's work that it not only deals with man and God's great seperation, but also with all the side effects of that, as seen in the fall of creation. One day, one day Christians will be in the perfect new creation, which will more real than we can know now, where we will enjoy Christ forever. How awesome the work of the cross. Sometimes i just sit and wonder at how God has thought of everything, and i know that sounds trite, but He really has!

shock the world

1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5 as given (more or less) by Ben Carswell at Surrey's Houseparty.

17-21
What is the cross to you? What position does it hold in your life? Where does it stand in your list of important world events? The Cross, where the Son of God died has to have a central part in our lives, because it is the central point of world history. Nothing is more is more important than the identity of Jesus and our reaction to that. Nothing. The biggest problem in the world is not famine, or global warming, or terrorism...it's mans seperation from God. The Cross divides history, it divides men. It's either foolishness or power. Either the greatest peace and relief, or the greatest offence. But its the wisdom of God for salavation. It's how God chose to reconcile Himself to man. It's the blazing centre of our faith. Christ chose the cross to glorify His Father and save us, if we ignore God's wisdom, we will have little defence.

23-25
What is our message? What do people know us by? What is the first thing people think about then they think of us? Is it the cross? What do people want? Jews demanded a signs, Greeks demanded wisdom...both of them scorned the cross. God calls us to live and speak for Him. We need to preach Christ crucified, we need to remember Christ is the power and the wisdom of God for salvation. We need to persist and believe in this power. Paul was in Corinth for a year and a half before he saw anyone saved. A year and a half preaching the same 'foolish' message without any discernable results...do we have that persistance today?

26-31
What do we boast in? Our exam results? The school we went to? The Uni we're at? Our job? Our gifts? If you're a Christian, it's because God chose you, so you have no reason to boast. God chose and works through you. The last breath i took i stole from Jesus. When we realise that God is infinately more valuable than we ever dreamed, and we are less worthy of Him than we ever feared we are liberated from all boasting. Nothing else matters around the cross. It's faith or not. There is no hierachy at Calvary. It's all...ALL because of Christ and Him crucified. We must make this the basis of all our boasting.

2:1-5
Where is our confidence? Paul was an apostle and had a great ministry, and yet in verse two he decided not to rely on his experience or his calling or clever arguments...but simply on Christ. He came with weakness. He had no wisdom. He had no persuasive arguments. His message was 'not plausible' according to the world's standards...and yet he demonstrated the Spirit's wisdom and power. And this was all for God's glory and man's benefit as it meant that the new Corinthian Christians depended on God, and not on man. Verse two calls us to be monomaniacs. Mandy posted on how its ok to be completly obsessed with Jesus...this is what we must resolve, in our evangelism and growth and living. To know nothing apart from Christ crucified. That is the centre of Christianity, it must be at the centre of us.

whole in the earth

I was reading an article in the paper today about North Korea. Man, that is a place i would like to go to, not neccesarily just for the Gospel, although, thats the most important thing obviously, but just to see it. It seems to be the last place in the world where you'll walk down the street without happening upon a McDonalds or Starbucks. The pictures of Pyongyang were amazing.

Anyway, back to my point. Places like North Korea needs the Gospel. Yeh, everywhere needs the Gospel, but especially places like North Korea where there is, i would guess no sustainable, indigenous witness at all to the Gospel. Just none. Generations of people living and dying and going to Hell, never getting the chance to hear of Jesus. As i was reading the article my heart ached for the people out there who seem, in human terms at least beyond reaching. Even if missionaries do start to have an impact out there, how will they convice people that they are not just a foriegn conspiracy, how will they get them to give up their alliegance to the 'Eternal President', Kim-Il-Sung who died in 1994, and is the closest thing to a deity that Stalinist Theology will allow.

Well, because while going and sowing is our work, our commission, saving is God's work. Romans 9 is probably one of my favourite chapters in the Bible...certainly the one that makes me happy that i am Reformed the most. God effects salvation through the grace of election. 'He will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy (Rom 9:15). Now obviously in V16 we see the huge ground for humilty for us, but i think V15 gives us huge encouragements in the mission field. If it were up to us, if it were up to human exertion, surely no one in Korea, or Libya, or Yeman or Saudi would be saved. And yet because of Matthew 24:14 and Revelation 7:9, we can be sure there are. Why? Because God will save whom God will save. It's as simple as that. Did you know there are more Christians in China than there are in North America? Isn't that amazing? So we can, i think, be sure, that there are members of the elect in places like North Korea. We just need to get out there and find them.

And obviously this is no easy task. Which is why prayer is so vital. As Hudson Taylor's parents prayed that their son would go to China, and Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for workers in the fields. So we must pray. God has used the British education system to get people from all over the world here, so it's possible that he will use either that to bring North Koreans to British Unis (unlikely) or, that He would use the increasing number of Chinese and European business investment into the country to bring Christians into North Korea. Also, there must be missionaries in Korea at the moment, according to Open Doors there are around 9000 Protestants and 4000 Catholics there, so lets pray for them, and for those that are in prison for the Name.

Open Doors Persecution Info
Doing Missions When Dying is Gain

don't steal our sun

This is roughly the talk i gave at an international training thing yesterday...it's not totally what i said, but more or less. Also, you *might* recognise parts of it from somewhere else!


Why do evangelism at all? Even more so with people from different countries. Why share the Gospel with the people you’ve made friends with? Because Jesus commands it. In Matt 28: 18-19, often called The Great Commission He says all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me…therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus has been given all authority over heaven and earth, he has total sovereignty over anywhere and everywhere we go and over anywhere and everywhere people come to Surrey from. So we are safe in Him no matter where people are from and no matter where we go. He is in control and we have nothing to fear. Ok? So, in light of that, we are to go. We are to go and teach and baptise and spread to Kingdom of God, because Jesus tells us to, and because He has all the authority, and because of that we have no excuse. Isn’t that an amazing gift we have been given? An amazing privilege and responsibility? Jesus could do it all on His own, I am convinced of that. He doesn’t actually need us, He could do it without us in a second. And yet He tells us to do it. Lets us get involved in the great joy of spreading the Gospel around all the earth. Isn’t that great? Perhaps the best thing about this afternoon is that I’m not even trying to convince you to actually go somewhere. To go to China, or Japan or Africa or anywhere, Christians should go to those places, they should go to dangerous places to share the Gospel, but in His wisdom and authority Jesus has sent people from all nations here. They’re right on our doorstep, in our lectures, in our courts, eating with us in Roots. So we can fulfil part of the Great Commission for the two, three of four years it is right here in Surrey.

But what if you’re still not convinced? Well, look at Matthew 24:14: this Gospel will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Nations here means people groups, ethnic divisions, as well as actual nations. We can, I think, be sure that before Jesus returns there will be a sustainable witness in every single tribe, tongue and ethnicity there is. How can we be sure of that? Because Jesus doesn’t lie. ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’. And Jesus said it, not me or anybody else. There’s no ‘fence sitting’ here. There are two options available to us, we can either take part and enjoy the victory of the spread of the Gospel over all the world, or we can cop out and waste our lives. Jesus doesn’t lie. Again, there are people from all over the world right here in Guildford, so what is being asked here isn’t that big a task…I’m just trying to show you the Biblical mandate for it. So why else should we feel confident and motivated in evangelism? Because the ransom for these people has already been paid. Revelation 5:9 ‘worthy are you to open the scrolls, and open it’s seals for you were slain and by your blood ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.’ So the price for these people who come to café form all over the world has been paid by Jesus on the cross. He’s done all that needs doing to effect their salvation, God’s not going to go back on that…we need to tell people about it. One more reason that there is a definite, definite, burning reason to do evangelism, particularly to people from different cultures is this. The glory of God is at stake. Romans 15:9: ‘Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness…and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.’ So. The second person of the trinity was incarnated so that all peoples might praise God. Sure these verses mention Jews and Gentiles only, but when Paul wrote this that’s the only divide there was. Jews, and Gentiles. That’s everyone now anyway isn’t it? Jews, and people that’re not Jews. It’s like saying British people, and people that aren’t British. It’s everyone. So the glory of God is at stake. This is why Jesus came, so that people from all over the world would glorify God. Trust me. Actually, DON’T trust me, read it in the Bible. Read it in the Bible and play your part. Bring glory to God through sharing the Gospel with everyone…but especially in this context people at café.

So there we go. That’s the why. That’s why we do evangelism. It’s not, as one author puts it ‘something you wouldn’t do to your dog’…it’s great. The promise is sure because Jesus tells us to do it, the price has been paid, and God’s glory is at stake. And there’s much much more I could say, but we need to move on.

So how? How are we to go about sharing the Gospel. Well, as I said the ransom has been paid on the cross, so one answer to that question is ‘we share it indiscriminately’. But how? And also, we’re just people, how can we change anyone’s minds? The answer to that question… is that we can’t. But there is some very good news on its way…come with me to 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6.
Ok, I want you to break into 2s and answer some questions: 1. what’s the problem that unbelievers have? 2. what can we do about that? 3. what does God do about that?

So the God of this world. The devil, has blinded people to seeing the glory of God in the face of Christ. So what we do is tell them the gospel, the actual gospel as verse 2 shows the importance of not messing around with it. And it’s only the gospel which will save people, not our version of the gospel, not what we want people to believe… we can’t trick people, we need to tell them what the Gospel says. Then God will work to open their minds, as in Acts 16:14, when Paul preached the gospel, and the Lord opened Lydia’s heart. And then God, who said let light shine out of darkness will shine in their hearts to show the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Isn’t that what happens when people get saved…when WE got saved? That we saw the glory of God in the face of Christ and believed. This is how people will become Christians. So we need to share the gospel with people if they are to be saved. And that can equally well be done in proclamations sense like in church on a Sunday or in the course of a friendship. So that’s what we’re going to explore now, in pairs, just take a minute each to share the Gospel…go!

So there you go. Just a minute to share the Gospel isn’t all that easy is it? I remember being asked to share the gospel in a minute at something similar to this…and I just couldn’t do it! And it’s my job essentially! There are so many things to think about when sharing the Gospel. Where do I start? What sort of angle do I use? What words express the same things as justification and sin that a non Christian, let alone a non Christian from a foreign country will understand? And the other thing is that there’s almost no chance you’ll get as long as a minute to say what you want. You might get thirty seconds…you might get ten seconds before the conversation moves on, or you lose their attention, or they just don’t want to know any more. And if you’re anything like me those 10 seconds will be 6 seconds of thinking followed by 3 and a half of spluttering. And that version of the Gospel isn’t going to challenge anyone, let alone save anyone. So what can we do? Well there are many simplified ways to remember the gospel, to get it across in a few easy to remember points. Obviously none of these are perfect, and none can be shared in as little as ten seconds, but at least if you’ve got it in your mind then you’ll be readier if the opportunity comes.

It’s called two ways to live.
So two ways to live is this.
1. The world was created and it was perfect under God’s Lordship
2. but man wanted to be king, and so rebelled and made himself king
3. so man was dead and separated from God, with no chance of bridging the gap
4. But God sent His Son, Jesus to die on a cross and bridge the gap between man and God.
5. so man can now live in the truth of a relationship with God the Father, as long as they submit to the Kingship of God the Son, Jesus
6. so there are two ways to live. One that will end in death and one that will never end!


So that’s a simple way of sharing the gospel with people in a conversational context…so now have a go in your pairs…

Now I hope that seemed a bit easier, that you at least had somewhere to start, and that you’ll feel a bit more confident now if someone asks you why you’re a Christian, or if you can explain the Gospel…that’s what I hope anyway!

I want to finish with some real encouragement from the Bible. In Isaiah 55:11 it says

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s word does God’s work. The words that leave His mouth, that is, what we’ve got in the Bible…God’s word, will not return to Him empty. He sends out His word with a purpose, and that purpose is the salvation of sinners, as it tells us in 2 Timothy 3:15. God’s word does God’s work. It will not return to Him empty, but will return to Him with results, with success, with glory for God. Isn’t that good news? That we have all the tools we need to bring people to God, wherever they’re from. The Gospel is equally effective in bringing someone to Christ who is from China, or Saudi Arabia, someone who has never heard of Jesus, never read the Bible, or someone who thinks they’ve heard it all before and knows inside out where they’re not a Christian…because, as I may have already said a couple of times…God’s word does God’s work. All we have to do, as we saw earlier from the passage in 2 Corinthians, if we speak the Gospel, faithfully and relying on God, people will be saved.

And with international students this is such an important opportunity. International students are open to what we’ve got to say to them in ways that most home students just aren’t. They’ve come here to learn about Britain and our culture and our way of life, and they see Christianity as another part of that. I mean, obviously, that’s a wrong view of what Christianity is, but God brings us people in His own ways in His own time. And we must use this time that God has given us for the benefit of these people, and for the glory of His name. Also, this is potentially the only time in the lives of many of these guys where they will come into contact with Christians openly, and where Christians are able to speak to them freely about their beliefs. This is an awesome privilege that we’ve got to share the gospel with people from foreign countries, from different cultures. And its one we must take, and take seriously. So go. And seek out and make friends with international students. Be culturally sensitive, but not so sensitive you end up denying the Gospel. Be their friend, and be honest about what you believe and how much it means. And remember, and trust in the power of the Gospel.

Memorize the city

I'll never really understand the depth of feeling that Paul had when he wrote about his own, lost people at the start of Romans 9. What an about turn he has from the end of chapter eight, when he seems to be soaring about the irresistable love of God and it's effects and certainty. And then minutes later he's filled with 'great sorrow and unceasing anger' over the state of the Jews before God.

Sometimes though, i feel a slight trace of that running through my heart. Last night after the pre CU prayer meeting, where we prayed for many different aspects of the meeting, i felt sorrow and anguish inside me. I thought of all the freshers who were coming to UniS, who knew about the Gospel, who knew of it's power and truth, and yet were ready to turn their backs on it. Who would maybe go to church and CU for a couple of weeks for their parents sake, and then abandon it. It's gutting, actually gutting to think of people who know the truth consciously turning away like that.

But there are three things i can do to prevent this, and to turn my hearts from lamenting to rejoicing. We can keep preaching the gospel, trusting that God's Word does God's work, and that it will not return to Him void. That the gospel is what people need to here, no matter how few people that is. We can pray for people. That God would stir in them, talk to them, we can plead with God for them, that they would be worthy of their calling, that they would hunger for Him and that the things of the world would lose their shine. That He would shine the light of the knowledfe of the glory of Christ into their lives. We can trust God, and rejoice in His irresistable grace, knowing that He saves whom He saves, and that no one can get away from His effective calling, and that He will complete the good work He started in everyone.

Why bother with theology?

Why should anyone be concerned with theology? Surely the best way to persue an intimate relationship with God is prayer and experience rather than study? Isn't that all a bit dry? Surely Jesus is concerned with my heart not my academic study?

For a start there is always theology. Everyone has theology, so we need to decide whether it will be good theology or bad. Whether we'll work at it and study it or not. Even if we just unquestioningly accept all that people tell us about what the Bible says, thats still having a theology.

Our relationship with Jesus is a relationship with a real person. Jesus the man taught and dealt in propositional truth, truth that He then commanded His disciples share with the world. It seems clear from the great commision that Jesus wanted His followers to live in a certain way following knowledge of Him, and He wanted them to be taught how to live in this way. It is impossible to separate a knowledge of Jesus and His teaching and a relationship with Him. You can't relate to Jesus unless you understand Him. You have to get to know Him if you're going to turst Him, like in any relationship. Now, thats not to say that all Christians need to have the intellect of Edwards or Calvin (hooray!). A child and a theology professor can both say Jesus is Lord, both mean the same thing and both be right. It's jsut that one may have a deeper understanding of what that statement means than the other. But that doesn't make the theologian more of a Christian...obviously.

How will we worship and relate to God properly if we don't know Him? And we must treat God properly, because He is a jealous God. Theology tells us about God, and who He is, and what He's done and how that affects us. How can that not be worth studying? How can it not be worth getting to know. It was theology, a realisation of God and where we stand before Him that bought us to the point of conversion. The experience of Christian life is a great one...an amazing one. But it is theology that informs our experience, that tells us what we are experienceing and whether it is valid. The Bible, and Pauls letters particulaly tell us of normal Christian experience, or how to pray, to live, to enjoy fellowship and fight sin. Thats got to be worth looking at in depth hasn't it? Theology is practical. We won't be able to relate to God, to follww Him properly and to live a life worthy of Him if we don't know what He asks for.

What about our Christian practice though? Surely thats more important than just studying? Well, our theology shapes our practice. In Philippians 1:1-10 Paul prays that the Philippian Christians will be filled with 'knowledge and depth of insight that they may be able to discern what is best'. So here Paul clearly thinks and prays that what we believe will change how we behave. If we have a deeper knowledge of how God wants us to live then we will be able to let that knowledge guide and inform our decisions at every level.

Neither is theology a dull, academic thing that is seperate from worship. Romans 1-11 is possibly the most challanging and comprehensive theological discourse in the Bible. And what does it drive Paul to? A tremendous amount of worship at the end of Romans 11. Because, i guess, because of what thinking and writing that truth showed about God to Paul. And he couldn't help Himself, he just explodes in praise. Theology is thrilling! It tells us how amazing God are, how terrible we are, and what He's done about that, and our correct response to that. Studying theology should do that to us, it should make us love the Lord more and want to love and serve Him more. Psalm one shows us that theology shores up our faith against attack, and helps us to bare fruit. An amaemic faith, devoid of passion and truth will never posses the nerve to die for the things it believes in. And the faith that isn't worth defending soon becomes not worth professing.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly. The world needs people with good theology. We are all called to give a reasoned defence of our faith. So that we must do. When we're asked why we think Jesus is God, we must be able to answer. We must know why we believe what we believe. And we must be deeply convicted of that.

I had a great time this morning reading chapter one of Grudem's 'systematic theology', but only because it made me hungry to read the Bible, hungry to know more of God. And that is what studying theology should do. It should puff you up with knowledge, or make us proud that we can out argue other Christian. It can't get much worse than using God's Word to win arguments.

These are obviously incomplete half thought out thoughts, so i want to finish quoting two people much much wiser than i a;

Luther 'the cross is our theology'

Mike Reeves 'why did Jesus go to the cross if a quiet time could have done it?'

1967

The first time Kurt Cobain used heroin, he called Krist Novoselic, bass player in Nirvana to tell him about the experience. Krist warned him he was 'playing with dynamite'. Heroin appears (from my very rudimentary research) to be about the most physically addictive drug that there is. It really is like injecting dynamite into your veins, except it has the opposite effect, causing all the muscles in your body to relax, meaning eventual loss of consciousness, and your skin turning blue. Heroine is so addictive that addicts end up not being able to live without it, even though it's killing them. Even on the day he married the woman he loved, Kurt had to shoot up 'just a little bit, so i wouldn't get sick'.

I think sin is like heroin. All sin ever does is make us want to sin more. All it ever does it make us hungrier for more of it. Actually thats not all true, if it was then perhaps sin wouldn't be so bad. Except the Bible tells us that we can not serve two masters. There is no void or vacuum when it comes to what we set our mind upon. It is either spiritual or it's sin. So sin pulls away from the God of glory. It blurs the vision of the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ to an extent that we can't see it at all unless we're careful. Unless we fight it. It makes us want to serve it. It doesn't satisfy us, it only intensifies the longing in our heart for pleasure, and joy, and acceptance. It intesifies the problems that we have inside ourselves already, because we were not created for the fleeting joys of sin, we were created for a much deeper, more satisfying, longer lasting, glorious pleasure. And here is, i think, the key to fighting sin. And we must fight sin. The fight is evidence of our salvation, not the source of it, the evidence of it. If we're not fighting sin on an intenional, conscious level (this obviously won't be possible with all sin because not all sin is conscious) then we may not be saved.

So how do we fight? We fight fire with fire. We look at God's glorious promises in the Bible, and we fight with them. We believe that there are pleasure's forever at God's right hand and a fulness of joy in His presence. God is not a stoic, He's not merely ambivalent. He is a God of the fulness of pleasure. He is a God who is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Not when we are trying to satisfy our desires with lust, or money, or fame, or popularity. Our deepest longings and our cravings for pleasure will not be solved by drugs or sex. They will be solved by knowing and embracing and delighting in all the God is for us in Jesus Christ. All that God has for us in Jesus Christ. In knowing and loving Christ as our God and as our Savior. For surely that is the reason we have been made. We can fight by prohibition and warning all we want, and God makes some serious promises about the eternity of those who succumb to sin. But we are created for joy, and that joy is to be found in Christ, so the best way to fight for that joy is to tell ourselves about it. That only the pure in heart will see God. That the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies. That sanctification is an inevitable result of our salvation.

In the book 'Future Grace' John Piper says that 'sin is worse than satan'. Sin is the tool, the weapon, the means that satan uses to pull us toward him and away from God. Toward eternal destruction and away from eternal life. Sin is the way he does that. By sugar coating the horrors of a life of unrepentant sin to make it seem attractive, and good and desirable. If we lived with an all encompassing passion for the glory of God, then these promises would mean nothing to us. We would see through them in a second.

The power of sin has been defeated, once for all on the cross. When Jesus died as a ransom the precious blood He shed bought all the good things that we need to live. When He rose again He defeated satan, who is now like a wounded animal lashing out to see who he can get at before the end comes, as it surely will. We need to remember this. We need to embrace the poweful realitiy of the cross, because how will we escape if we neglct such a salvation? We won't escape. The fight against sin is easy in theory. The Holy Spirit has given us all the weapons we need to fight. The reason why it's hard is that when we stop sinning, it means that we stop sinning, and we like sinning, otherwise we wouldn't do it. We have to choose what is better. We have to live for the deferred gratification in Heaven. We have to carve the mighty, wonderful promises of God on our hearts, and remember that those who live according to the Spirit will surely live.

Chapter Eighteen

Can i talk about grace for a bit? I think grace is actually my favourite thing in the world! Reading chapter eighteen of Future Grace by John Piper has opened my eyes to the wonders of grace a bit more, and i want to think that through.

God's grace to us comes in two different forms, conditional, and unconditional. Both of them speak totally of the mercy and glory of God, even though the phrase 'conditional grace' is a bit alien (well it was to me anyway!), but lets start with the unconditional graces of God.

Election.
Man, do i love the doctrine of election! It's just the most amazing, mindblowing-to-the-point-where-i-just-don't-understand it thing in the world. God, before the start of time as we know it chose for Himself a people to worship and enjoy and serve Him forever. I mean, that speaks enough of grace, gallons of grace flowing out of God to His people. But thats before you factor in the fall, and human rebellion against God. Which has given God every reason to go 'ok then, see you on judgement day', but oh we don't worship a God like that. Praise Him that He is merciful, and fully concerned with His glory and our benefit, and that those things are essentially the same thing. How great is that. And election gives us the key to evangelism. If it was up to us, no one would be saved, no one could be given a new heart by human efforts. Anyway, i've written about this before, so i won't again. Election, the most amazing, most unconditional grace there is.

Regeneration.
'and those whom He predestined, He also called'. How is it that we are able to respond with a willing heart to God's election? Because of grace! Because of unconditional, unmerited grace, which means that when we hear the Gospel, we are saved. Because God's plans are impossible to frustrate, because God creates darkness out of light, something out of nothing. Just as with election, the grounds of our regeneration, our calling and response are not the result of works and faith, they are the cause of them! Grace again, at work in our hearts to respond to God's gracious election. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us before we are even saved! And that, is unconditional grace, that those whom God predestined, He also calls, and that that calling is always, always effective.

Common Grace.
What allows us to experience love and peace and happiness. What allows a parent to love a child. What keeps the sun going around the earth. What keeps the earth's tilt at exactly the right angle so it doesn't spin into the sun or fly off into outerspace? GRACE. Unconditional and unmerited grace. I love grace!

Conditional Grace.
So what is conditional grace conditional upon? The condition is justification is faith, the condition of sanctification is faith, and the condition of glorification is faith. Faith in God is the condition the of grace which justifies, sanctifies and glorifies (just as an aside how ridiculously loving that God would choose to have us holy and blameless!) So these responses are conditional on faith, whereas election and regeneration come before faith. If we want to persue justification, sanctification and glorification, we must have faith. Faith. We must love God and treasure the promise giver. We must embrace the truth of Jesus, not merely give assent to it. Anyone could believe that God was working all things together for his good, and be wrong. We must love God, ans have faith in Him.
These conditional graces are not merited. Here is my favourite part, the bit where my brain explodes. The condition of some conditional grace is faith. And what's faith? Faith, is a gift of grace! A work of the Holy Spirit. We can not stir up faith within ourselves, it must be given to us. This is what 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 is all about. God shines a light in our heart that we may say His light in the face of Jesus Christ. So, without doing down the important condition of justification, sanctification and glorification, remember the condition of it is a gift of grace. God gives us unconditional grace, and then gives us what fills the condition of conditional grace. This is actually amazing!

We must have faith, we must be called. Neither of these things is down to our merit. We must trust and believe in God's soveriegn and effective salvation work, and live for it.